Government advisor assesses the UK’s ineffective climate change adaptation 

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) have released a new progress report, assessing the UK’s progress in climate change adaptation. The latest report assesses that the UK is not prepared for climate change; planning is inadequate, integration is weak, and there are insufficient resources currently allocated to climate change adaptation. 

Created in 2008, the CCC provide advice to government on ways to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. The Committee regularly assess government’s progress towards goals and objectives, such as with its annual progress report, where a range of priority actions were raised to help speed up inaction last year. 

Why is climate change adaptation needed? 

Adaptation allows us to be prepared as a nation for the increasing impacts of climate change. We have already started to see the start of the effects through events such as heatwaves, heavier and more frequent heavy rainfall, and conditions that increase the risk of wildfires occurring. 

The impact of climate change on the world – and in the UK – is clear, and the short-term results have already begun to occur. In recent records in England alone, the CCC note how we have seen the wettest 18 months on record, resulting in large spans of farmland being flooded and the second-worst harvest since records began, record-breaking temperatures in summer, and an unprecedented number of wildfires that resulted in a 500% increase in 999 calls for fire and rescue services. 

Adaptation is needed now to ensure that the UK is prepared for today’s extreme weather as well as the rapidly increasing severity of future risks. The costs of these impacts are already being felt, and the risks will continue to grow even if international targets to limit global warming are met.  

National Adaptation Programme 

This report is the CCC’s first progress report on the Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) for this government, building on the Committee’s initial assessment from March 2024. 

The CCC reiterate the importance of climate adaptation and feel the current programme is holding back delivery. Four key areas of action that form a strong foundation for the NAP are recommended: 

Improve objectives and targets: by clearly communicating the roles of government departments, the private sector, and households across the UK and the measurable goals of each group, swifter action can be taken. 

Improve coordination across government: following on from the previous goal, climate adaptation needs to be well-integrated across government, allowing for spending decisions and activities to be aligned. 

Integrate adaptation into all relevant policies: public sectors and services – such as the NHS – need to be resilient, and this needs to be ensured through the next Spending Review and the closure of policy gaps. 

Implement monitoring, evaluation, and learning across all sectors: regular data collection and reporting will help accurately track impacts and help form policy based on climate-based adaptation. 

Delivery and implementation 

Whilst progress is acknowledged to exist in some areas, such as in energy and transportation, there are some notable challenges and data that allows us to monitor the UK’s adaptation is difficult to collect. 12 of 46 adaptation outcomes have insufficient progress, according to the CCC, and the NAP3 has not led to enough progress. This is the first progress report on the NAP3, so this note that it has not led to sufficient action is concerning and it requires strengthening.  

A lack of effective tracking, monitoring, and evaluation has inhibited progress, resulting in largely stagnant results over the past two years. There are nine outcomes that cannot be accurately assessed due to a lack of up-to-date data, and the CCC argue that there is a lack of clarity from government. 

Priority recommendations 

The CCC recommend that the UK government strengthens all climate adaptation – across all sectors. There are gaps in every sector’s policy: land, nature, and food requires clarity on funding, infrastructure requires improved resilience standards, built environment and communities must have long-term flood risk targets and a national plan that involves health, housing, and local authorities, health and wellbeing needs expansion to cover all climate hazards to reinforce adaptation, the economy and private sector must be bolstered with investment to improve access to data, and the UK needs to ensure climate change is accounted for in its cross-government trade and international collaboration strategy. 

The CCC warn that action and climate change adaptation is needed now whilst we still have the opportunity to address these risks in a way that is both cost-effective and timely. Further delays, holes in data, and a lack of clarity are greatly inhibiting the UK’s climate adaptation, and increased funding is required wherever possible to reduce risk.